Riding Pretty High

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It had to come sooner or later with the current BMX craze — Superior Software unashamedly presents BMX On The Moon.

Fortunately, the game isn't quite as cheap as it sounds. It's a rehash of the old fashioned 'dodging and shooting while smoothly scrolling' theme.

This game comprises a lunar landscape, a moon cycle - the pseudo BMX - rocks, menacing barrels, overhead hovering nasties and liberal unpleasantness.

> Each go is divided into different screens of increasing difficulty. At the start you only have hovering spaceships to contend with. These can be shot quite easily with your guns which fire both upwards and forwards.

As you progress through the screens, the existing aliens get meaner and new variants are introduced. Bouncing monsters appear in awkward positions, barrels fly towards you which are too high to jump over, too low to drive under and too high to shoot at.

Spaceships overhead start to pepper the landscapes with craters which adds something else to be negotiated.

> You select which skill level you want. On a high skill level, the landscape has hills in it, which can contain partially hidden rocks. Worse still the landscape can be on the receiving end of the forward gun when you intend shooting upwards - leaving a whopping great crater.

The game has some nice gimmicks including the high scores and the level dissolving in front of your eyes rather than the screen simply being blanked instantly. The high-scores are all in chunky lettering and the 'game over' message appears to the accompaniment of vollies of explosions.

An annoying feature is that if you change to a different level and then change back to the original level, all the high-scores are gone.

> The instructions are quite comprehensive giving details of what to do, and when and how to do it.

The keys are well thought out which is as well since there is no joystick option.

The graphics are nothing special, nor are the sound effects though I must say that I've seen worse.

> Summing it all up - nice gimmicks, but shame about the game.

It's expensive for what it is but may appeal to the younger end of the market because of its simplicity.

Philip Tudor